Controller advice

[JordoLights]

Hello all, started last year using a nodemcu with wled and a 5v 10m ws2812b strip which I managed to create an outline for our pillar at the front. Eventually got that working with xlights.

I want to get more serious this year but not go crazy all in. Need to control spending, haha.

I want to keep that pillar (10m ws2812b). Add another 10m ws2812b for the window outlines. Add some leaping arches and a few coro props. All of which will use around 350pieces 5v ws2811 pixels. Lights will all be less than 20m from the controller location.

What controller would you recommend for me to use? I was thinking f16 or pixlite 4 mk2 (bit cheaper than f16).

If I go with the pixlite, can i run both ws2812 and ws2811?

I plan on finishing the house outline and a few more props next year.

Thanks in advance

 

[Grozzy]

You could look at something like a pi hat with a pi3b+ running FPP under $100.
Has audio out as a bonus if you want music and you can even keep your pixel nodemcu.

rPI-28D+ | Hanson Electronics

Pixel controller with DMX

www.hansonelectronics.com.au

 

[abundy]

Hello all, started last year using a nodemcu with wled and a 5v 10m ws2812b strip which I managed to create an outline for our pillar at the front. Eventually got that working with xlights.

I want to get more serious this year but not go crazy all in. Need to control spending, haha.

I want to keep that pillar (10m ws2812b). Add another 10m ws2812b for the window outlines. Add some leaping arches and a few coro props. All of which will use around 350pieces 5v ws2811 pixels. Lights will all be less than 20m from the controller location.

What controller would you recommend for me to use? I was thinking f16 or pixlite 4 mk2 (bit cheaper than f16).

If I go with the pixlite, can i run both ws2812 and ws2811?

I plan on finishing the house outline and a few more props next year.

Thanks in advance

Pixelite controllers have support for a number of protocols, but can only run one protocol on all ports. 28xx (2811 and 2812) are basically the same protocol, so yes it can run both of those pixels.

 

[JordoLights]

Thanks all for your replies.

You could look at something like a pi hat with a pi3b+ running FPP under $100.
Has audio out as a bonus if you want music and you can even keep your pixel nodemcu.

rPI-28D+ | Hanson Electronics

Pixel controller with DMX

www.hansonelectronics.com.au

This is interesting. At this stage, I have a total of 549 LEDS of WS2812 (2x windows and 1x pillar). And 337 WS2811 pixels (4 arches, 2 props, 1 singing element). Noting that the RPI-28D+ has 2x WS281x outputs that can handle 1600 pixels per output, does that mean I can just use both outputs for all of my lights? Then just break them down in the setup and xLights? And of course I will need to power inject along the runs.

 

[CargoLights]

If you're in the US, I would look at a Kulp K8-PB. I'm not sure how he is on shipping to other countries, but you could certainly check if you're not in the US. It's cheap, expandable, and can run your show without tying up a PC or a Raspberry Pi. You'll need a USB network adapter and a sound card if you're running the show with it. Or you can buy the K8-B and just need a USB sound card (go with the BB Green if you do, the HDMI output on the Black isn't helpful for our purposes).

 

[Grozzy]

Thanks all for your replies.


This is interesting. At this stage, I have a total of 549 LEDS of WS2812 (2x windows and 1x pillar). And 337 WS2811 pixels (4 arches, 2 props, 1 singing element). Noting that the RPI-28D+ has 2x WS281x outputs that can handle 1600 pixels per output, does that mean I can just use both outputs for all of my lights? Then just break them down in the setup and xLights? And of course I will need to power inject along the runs.

Absolutely, just daisy chain the props. The only caveat being that technically strips and pixels should play together and pass the data on but sometimes they do weird things. You would also need to set the colour order in XLights RGB/BGR for pixels vs strips.

 

[Notenoughlights]

If you're confident in setting up a Beaglebone Black running FPP (BBB - Similar to a raspberry pi, but has way more outputs for pixels) and don't mind a little configuring, Hanson Electronics has a cape for the BBB board that gives you 16 outputs with further expansion headers to install more ports for a total of 48, or long range adapters to run your pixel data down ethernet cables to far away props for consistent data. For the price you pay and the number of pixels you get to control (About $200AUD all up) it's a fairly decent option.

HE123 Mk2 16-48 output pixel board | Hanson Electronics

HE123 48 output pixel board

www.hansonelectronics.com.au

 

[JordoLights]

If you're confident in setting up a Beaglebone Black running FPP (BBB - Similar to a raspberry pi, but has way more outputs for pixels) and don't mind a little configuring, Hanson Electronics has a cape for the BBB board that gives you 16 outputs with further expansion headers to install more ports for a total of 48, or long range adapters to run your pixel data down ethernet cables to far away props for consistent data. For the price you pay and the number of pixels you get to control (About $200AUD all up) it's a fairly decent option.

HE123 Mk2 16-48 output pixel board | Hanson Electronics

HE123 48 output pixel board

www.hansonelectronics.com.au

This sounds like a very cost effective solution to get more outputs for future use. Are there guides or videos on how to set this up from scratch? Thanks for your suggestion.

 

[Notenoughlights]

This sounds like a very cost effective solution to get more outputs for future use. Are there guides or videos on how to set this up from scratch? Thanks for your suggestion.

Plenty of guides to set up FPP, its very well documented, Plenty of video guides too, and then there's always ACL forums/chat for those problems you get stuck on.

 

[Grozzy]

This sounds like a very cost effective solution to get more outputs for future use. Are there guides or videos on how to set this up from scratch? Thanks for your suggestion.

I run a couple of them in my show, so reach out if you go down that path and get stuck, Alan aka Hanson Electronics is on here as well and he is mighty helpful.

 

[JordoLights]

Thank you all, I've decided to go with the RPI-28D+ and also use my existing Nodemcu for this year. Fingers crossed all goes well.